ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit organization, dedicates itself to bringing the discipline of applied scientific research to healthcare to uncover the best approaches to improving patient care. As pioneers in this science for nearly 40 years, ECRI Institute marries experience and independence with the objectivity of evidence-based research. ECRI Institute is designated a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization and an Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). ECRI Institute has planned and conducted fifteen annual conferences that address issues of vital importance in the use of evidence in policy and practice. Each of our fifteen conferences has been focused on topics of great interest and importance to AHRQ. The 2008 conference will be an examination of "value" in healthcare, and it is programmatically linked to last year's conference on comparative effectiveness. These events are constructed like collaboratively edited books aimed at telling a story behind an emerging issue that is important for policy and practice, and that needs the support of rigorous methodologies to bring evidence into the deliberations. "Value-based purchasing," "value-based benefits design," and "value-based pricing," are terms that are used increasingly in the healthcare marketplace, so our internal and external advisory committee members have agreed upon this as our 2008 focus. Conference attendees in the past, and expected in 2008, include senior executives, clinicians, and researchers from the following kinds of organizations: health plans and insurers, provider organizations, employers, pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, research organizations and consumer groups, and State and Federal government agencies, as well as elected officials and members of the judiciary. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]